Cannes 2022: 10 Films We Expect To See

Cornish director Mark Jenkin is about as home-bred as they come for us Brits, having spent the bulk of his 20+ year career thus far making a series of documentaries and shorts primarily based on the Cornish coast and exploring down-to-earth, relatable yet wholly compelling subject matter.

But he caught the film world's eye in 2019 with Bait, his largest feature to date, backed by the BFI. Shot in black and white, filmed on a hand-cranked Bolex and developed in his own studio with coffee, washing powder and vitamin C, Bait was a return to basics that utilised a distinctive, neo-talkies style. Though the picture never made it to Cannes, it nonetheless won international accolades by the armful, including the Grand Prix at Poland's New Horizons Film Festival and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer.

Shot in summer 2021, Jenkin's next film Enys Men is a 1970s horror once again set in his beloved Cornwall. The month-long shoot took place around the cliffs and moors of West Penwith, and follows a woman (Mary Woodvine) who, while volunteering for the Wildlife Trust on a Cornish island, encounters the many timelines that have inhabited the same space.

Though British features have sometimes been a little thin on the ground at Cannes, Enys Men will hopefully make the cut and provide something of a new foundation for our smaller filmmakers at the festival, counterbalancing the faux-grassroots stylings of Joanna Hogg that have been so popular of late.